


Hot Cocoa Magic

by nextraordinaire



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Charles Xavier has a Ph.D in Adorable, Childhood Friends, First Dates, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Gift Fic, Ice Skating, M/M, Smitten Erik
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-01
Updated: 2014-12-01
Packaged: 2018-02-27 20:59:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2706557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nextraordinaire/pseuds/nextraordinaire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charles takes Erik out to the skating rink. Erik has never stood on a pair of skates in his life, but it'll be easy-peasy, right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hot Cocoa Magic

**Author's Note:**

  * For [velvetcadence](https://archiveofourown.org/users/velvetcadence/gifts).



> Part of the DecFanFic Challenge: December 1: Ice Skating
> 
> Also, a birthday fic for the precious lady that is velvetcadence - hope your day was perfect!

Charles was short.

Erik knew this, in the same way he knew that Charles was pale, mutant and freckled. He’d known it ever since he’d hit his first growth spurt during summer break in eighth grade and come back from that one-time vacation in Florida not just tanned, but also towering nearly a head over his best friend.

Charles had given his gangly limbs longing looks for about a year, but that had stopped when he’d passed puberty properly. Through the years, their height difference was just as big as it had been after that first summer, and while Erik had physically grown into his long limbs, Charles had grown into his shortness like few people managed. Sure, he compensated a lot – his ego was simply too big to fit into his limited space – but he was comfortable, always sure of his movements and generally in full control of his body.

Which was why Charles was still standing up, perfectly balanced and laughing so hard tears were streaming out of his eyes while Erik was the one wriggling around on the ice for the umpteenth time that evening.

“I hate you,” Erik grumbled as he shakily got one knee up, hands braced in front of him.

“’Magneto – master of magnetism! The most powerful mutant in the world! Beaten by skates!”

 “Shut up, you telepathetic asshole,” Erik shot back, flushing at the childhood nickname he’d given himself in a flare of hubris. He put a little more effort into getting up, only to topple onto his ass again, letting out a string of curses his mother would not have been proud of.

A few girls from the other side of the rink turned their heads, giggling behind colorful mittens.

His blue eyes all but sparkling in time with the fairy lights overhead, Charles then came over, skating with sharp, precise skates. He made a perfect hockey stop right by Erik’s incredibly bruised tailbone, laughing quietly.

“I’ll help you up. But only if you ask nicely,” he said, grinning, his cheeks rosy with the cold.

Erik only shot him a dark look.

In his latest fall, his knitted cap had been thrown off, spinning away a few feet on the ice. Charles, still smiling wide, skated over and easily bent down to pick it up. His jeans – a pair that Erik very much knew Raven had deemed ‘indecent for public appearances’ – stretched tight over his backside as his pea coat rode up.

Feeling his anger fade away, replaced by something else  _entirely_ , Erik quickly looked down at his tightly laced skates.

When Charles had asked him if he wanted to go skating, Erik had agreed in thought it’d be simple, despite the fact that he’d never stood on a pair of skates in his life. But if kids could do it, then Erik definitely could. The blades were metal after all, so it would be no match for him, he'd thought.

How wrong he’d been.

Turning around without so much as a wobble, Charles triumphantly skated back with the hat in hand. “Here,” he said, reaching out the handmade thing Edie had forced onto Erik's head before he went out, nagging about pneumonia and all there was.

Erik snatched it back, pressing it down over his hot ears.

“You’re welcome,” Charles said and tilted his head, smile fonder now as he looked down were Erik was hopelessly stuck. “Do you need help up?”

“Yes. Please,” Erik muttered, as any silver of dignity he might still have left within him shriveled up and died.

Charles stretched out his mitten-clad hand and very carefully, Erik hauled himself onto his skates. He wobbled slightly once he was up, but Charles’ hand on his elbow kept him upright and steady.

Together, they then shuffled over to the rink were the line to the renting booth passed. Children, couples and a few teenagers their own age were all talking excitedly, huddling together for warmth while they waited to get skates before their exhales got too thick with cold. Erik watched them, but then his eyes flitted longingly to the hot cocoa stand in the middle of the square. His fingertips were freezing, and his toes were all but ice cubes in the damned skates, all which would be cured by drinking something hot, smooth and sweet.

Linking his arm with Erik’s, Charles tugged lightly. “Come on; let’s go a tour.”

He turned to skate away, but Erik stood stubbornly still. His limbs still felt too long and clumsy, like they had during all of ninth grade, and he was certain he was going to fall any minute. Every skate he tried was stiff and the blades were not cooperating in the slightest. In fact, touching them with his sense had only made his falls even more severe.

All the while Charles skated as if he was born on them, not having to struggle at all. When people looked at him, they did it with awe. When they looked at Erik, they just laughed.

Like always.

Certainly picking up on his prickly thoughts, Charles turned around, eyebrows knitted. “Something on your mind?”

“Can we go home?” Erik muttered, looking mulishly down at the ice.

Charles tilted his head. “We paid for an hour. It would be quite wasteful to skip off after fifteen minutes.”

Erik crossed his arms over his chest, feeling heat spread up his cheeks again – both in embarrassment and indignation.

“It’s a damn waste anyway – I can’t even skate,” he spit out after a long moment. “This was a stupid idea. I’m going home.”

Turning his back to Charles, he flung out a hand to clutch at the edge of the rink and started to shuffle towards the exit.

Used to the skate as he was, Charles easily caught up with him before he’d gotten very far. He did one of those abrupt stops, efficiently blocking Erik’s way to freedom.

“Erik.” Charles’s voice was gentle, his eyes big and confused.

His hand landed, as always, on Erik’s shoulder, squeezing lightly. And even though Erik knew he should shake it off, he didn’t.

“I know you can’t skate,” Charles started. “You said you’d never been to a rink before, and honestly, it’s quite different from taking a tour on the lake, even if you’d done that . But I know you haven’t done that either, and no matter what you can do with your powers, it really has all to do with balance. That’s why it’s easier to learn as a kid – just like riding the bike.”

Charles came a bit closer, sliding an arm around Erik’s elbow again.

“So what if you’re not ready to take off the training wheels off yet? Everyone has to learn somehow.”

“I shouldn’t need them,” Erik said, but it came out weaker than he'd planned.

“I’ll be your support wheels, okay?”

Erik just stared at him, feeling that familiar ache in his chest like clockwork.

“Don’t look so shocked,” Charles said, laughing gently and raised a hand to briskly brush Erik’s hair out of where it’d fallen into his eyes. “If we go for a tour, I’ll pay for the cocoa later.”

“I never said I wanted cocoa.”

“Well, you projected quite badly when you eyed that truck. But it’s all right – I was planning on it anyways.”

Looking up from his hands, Erik gave him a self-deprecating smile. “I’m not your charity case, Charles.”

 “Maybe not, but I want to treat you. See it as a return of favor for letting me take you out here. Besides, what sort of date would this be if we didn’t have hot cocoa,” Charles smiled quickly – a small, secret one only meant for Erik to see – before he leant up and promptly kissed him.

Erik stiffened, completely paralyzed.

“It’s a  _date?_ ”

“Yes?” Charles said, pleased look fading. He almost looked like was about to lean even further away, so Erik grabbed his scarf and promptly pulled him back in, so close their noses were all but touching.

Charles’ smile was blinding at that. He pushed forward, erasing the small space between their lips and kissed Erik again, this time with purpose. And Erik could only hold his breath as the dreams of the last three years materialized in the matter of a second. Charles’ lips were just as soft and full as they looked – and Erik had spent many an hour staring at them – so it was almost a crime to not kiss him back.

So Erik did.

Immediately, he felt Charles' smile widen against his lips as arms wound around his waist. He carefully brought up a hand to card through the hairs at Charles’ nape, feeling warm on the inside despite how the sub-ten air around them made his knees creak and ache.

They pulled away only when a wolf-whistle cut through the murmur.

For a moment, Charles just looked at him, eyes wide and so happy that it made Erik’s heart swell in his chest. He could feel the soft projection, that soft silvery light that sometimes filled his mind whenever Charles’ control slipped. It felt like the first snow on your face and coming in after a day in the cold at the same time, and Erik felt the chilled hole the humiliation had left in his stomach slowly filling up with a toasty warmth.

Charles smiled his not-so-secret smile again, eyes hopeful.

“So, is that yes to a tour? The cocoa is on, either way.”

There was a teasing note in Charles’ voice that Erik was immensely grateful for. He shrugged.

“Fine,” he muttered, flushing despite his best efforts not to.

But the corners of Charles’ eyes crinkled and he took Erik’s hands in his nonetheless. “Come on then, you grump,”

“Shut up, midget,” Erik shot back weakly, to which Charles just laughed, silvery and pleased.

Hands locked together, Charles then took off, pulling Erik with him from the edge rink and towards the middle, where most of the people were gathered. Erik still felt as if he’d fall any moment, but as Charles sped up, going faster and faster through the throngs of people in the big rink, it felt as if it was worth it.

If Charles would keep him upright, then Erik would keep him happy.

If so only for tonight. 


End file.
